Air-Independent Propulsion Submarines: Stealthy, Cheap and the Future?

[Marlin]

New technologies and natural gas are putting pressure on commercial power, new technologies are also putting pressure on the Navies nuclear submarine fleet.

Air-Independent Propulsion Submarines: Stealthy, Cheap and the Future?

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/air-independent-propulsion-submarines-stealth-cheap-the-24245

[TVA]

No

[Marlin]

No

I agree with that they will never have the power density that nuclear delivers for power projection.

[GLW]

I agree with that they will never have the power density that nuclear delivers for power projection.

The USN has been sponsoring blue green laser research since the early 1980's,...

and they do not talk about it much,...

these AIP submarines present the greatest threat to SSNs, etc. in littoral and sub littoral zones,...

these zones just happen to coincide with coastlines which provide airstrips which provide air superiority,...

any and all submarines are severely challenged to operate in areas where air superiority is uncontested and air surveillance is extensive,...

in areas where such air superiority is established, hunter-killer units utilizing all sorts of antisubmarine tools (including blue green lasers, drones, etc.) pert much severely curtail submarine ops,....

so, what do these AIP submarines gain for their sponsoring Navies?

well, in detailed and vetted wargames amongst friendly allies it allows the second tier players to claim victory in certain scenarios with meticulously established rules of engagement,...

i.e. - they get to beat their chest with pride in the face of the big dogs,...

practically; they are an expensive toy to national ego for those who cannot afford the real thing,...

because in the real world, IF you have air superiority with extensive surveillance capacity in littoral zones, THEN API submarines, indeed pert much all submarines, are superfluous,...




OBTW - almost forgot,...


air superiority is cheaper to attain and more effective than submarines,...


so,....


flat tops before boats,...

[Marlin]

The USN has been sponsoring blue green laser research since the early 1980's,...

and they do not talk about it much,...

these AIP submarines present the greatest threat to SSNs, etc. in littoral and sub littoral zones,...

these zones just happen to coincide with coastlines which provide airstrips which provide air superiority,...

any and all submarines are severely challenged to operate in areas where air superiority is uncontested and air surveillance is extensive,...

in areas where such air superiority is established, hunter-killer units utilizing all sorts of antisubmarine tools (including blue green lasers, drones, etc.) pert much severely curtail submarine ops,....

Giving air power to much credit, it is a big ocean (or sea) look how hard it is to find even surface combatants or disaster victims afloat. A nuke that can be submerged until it runs out of stored food that is a strong asset for stealth. Surveillance is still one of the top missions of the SSNs, AIPs move into that realm with extended submerged time but in terms of weeks not months. Making the ocean transparent has been the goal of anti-submarine warfare communities around the world, countries have to invest in an asset with a rather poor return on their money. Both types of subs (newer ones anyway) have sound transmissions below the background noise in the ocean making powering equipment for detection and other systems for extended submerged operations important i.e. score another one for nukes even in noisy litoral waters.

so, what do these AIP submarines gain for their sponsoring Navies?

Cost effective coastal defense. Not so good for blue water operation, when the US did war games against the Swedish AIP here in the US it was transported here by freighter.

OBTW - almost forgot,...

air superiority is cheaper to attain and more effective than submarines,...

so,....

flat tops before boats,...

Apples and oranges but in that vein how many planes does it take to find a submarine? Not sure it does not happen very often. They do have some cool toys that work if they know where the sub is in the first place. Big ocean it takes a lot of hounds to find the fox.


Subs that operate in blue water and litoral will probably remain nuclear for the foreseeable future and absolutely nuke for our SSBNs that only operate in open ocean.